Friday, November 30, 2012

The Discovery Channel just announced that Joe Teti, a former Force Recon Marine, Green Beret, and former operative in a top-secret government counter-terrorist unit, is the new replacement for Dave Canterbury on "Dual Survival".

Saturday, November 24, 2012

I've had to take care of some of personal business over the last couple of weeks, which has prevented me from posting the Wetterlings Forester's Fine Axe and Hultafors Axe reviews yet. I'm working on them as we speak, so thanks for being patient. I literally spend months on just one axe, knife or product review and it's very time consuming, so it's sometimes a juggling act to figure out which product or article gets posted first!

I'm happy to report that we've seen an increase in email and Twitter sign-ups, and our internet traffic has increased noticeably over the past few months as well. If you haven't subscribed to our email list, please visit the right sidebar and sign up!

ALSO- Rocky Mountain Bushcraft will be celebrating its first anniversary on December 1st! We will be celebrating by giving away (5) UCO Survival Stormproof Matches. Details will follow in a separate post.

Lots of new material will be posted in the coming weeks/months, so thanks again for visiting!

Monday, November 19, 2012

Ponderosa Pines are the most common tree found in the foothills and montane zones of the Rocky Mountains. They can be found as far north as southern British Columbia, and as far south as New Mexico. Ponderosa Pines are also found scattered throughout the West, to include the Sierra Nevadas, the Cascades, the Maritime Coast Range and the Blackhills of South Dakota.

So named because of their large size, the Ponderosa Pine holds the distinction of being the world's tallest pine tree, with the tallest recorded example coming in at an incredible 268.5 feet tall.

Bushcraft Uses: The green boughs can be used for bedding or for shelter insulation. Ponderosa Pine is a rich source of pine pitch to make glue, as well as pitchwood (fatwood) for fire-making. The needles make for a tasty, Vitamin A & C rich tea (Note: drinking too much pine tea is toxic. Pregnant women should NEVER drink this tea). The sweet, inner bark can be boiled or fried and eaten for survival food, or, it can be dried and pounded into flour. As firewood, Ponderosa Pine burns with significantly less popping and sparks than either Spruce, Aspen or Douglas Fir, making it a better choice for a survival fire that you have to lay close to at night. Young, unopened male cones can be boiled for an emergency food.

IDENTIFICATION

Of all the trees in the Rockies, I've found the Ponderosa the easiest to identify. The only time you might have difficulty is at higher elevations, where Ponderosa Pines start to mix with Lodepole Pines (I've included comparison shots of the Ponderosa and Lodgepole further down in this post to aid in positive identification).

The easiest way to identify Ponderosa is by the needles and cones. The needles are long and fan-like, and the cones usually litter the ground under the trees.

(click to enlarge)

There is usually an abundance of dead cones underneath Ponderosa Pines. They also make great kindling for your camp fire.

The third way to identify Ponderosa is by looking at the bark of adolescent and mature trees. As Ponderosa Pines mature, their bark gradually becomes more of a burnt-orange color. The bark also a very distinctive vanilla or butterscotch smell. When the summer sun heats up the bark, this odor can be so strong that a walk through the forest can smell like a walk through a candy factory!

Adolescent tree showing the beginnings of this orange color:

Adult tree showing increasing orange color:

The bark on a large, fully mature Ponderosa showing the solid burnt-orange color:

TREE PHOTOS

Young Tree

Mature tree

How to tell the difference between a Ponderosa Pine and a Lodgepole Pine

When looking at the two trees side-by-side, Ponderosa Pines will have longer, darker needles, as well as a courser, orange-brown colored bark when compared to the finer, darker bark of the Lodgepole.

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft, and the author ofEdible & Medicinal Survival Plants of the Rocky Mountains Pocket Guides. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Ok readers, here's another excellent Filson product for the cold winter
ahead- Filson's Zip Neck Fleece Mid-Layer Top. As some of you may
recall, I reviewed Filson's Mackinaw Cruiser Jacket, Pants and Wool Cuff Cap
earlier this year, and was really impressed by the quality. This fleece
mid-layer shirt is no different. Excellent fit, light yet warm, durably
built, with great attention to detail, this shirt is perfect for many
seasons of use, and has become my favorite year-round backpacking
companion.

(click to enlarge)

I've had this shirt since February, and since then, it's been used and
washed quite a bit, but still looks like new. It's warm enough that it
was often the only layer I'd need under my Goretex shell to keep me warm
on cool, stormy evenings in the high country. Since it's fleece, it
also packs up small and weighs virtually nothing, which makes it a great
choice for ultra-lite backpackers as well as bushcrafters.

At $95, this shirt is competively priced compared to its Chinese-made
counterparts. Plus you get Filson's legendary quality, fit and
durability along with the pride of knowing that you've bought a product
made by American workers. Another great piece of gear from Filson and
highly recommended.

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Douglas Firs are one of the most common trees found in the Rocky
Mountains. Beautiful, majestic and long-lived, they have been known to survive for as long as 1,300 years. Douglas Fir grows on foothills, montane
and subalpine slopes from central British Columbia and Alberta all the
way down to New Mexico.

Douglas Fir FACTS:

Bushcraft Uses- The green boughs make excellent bedding material. The sap can be used as
an antisceptic treatment for wounds (easily accessed by piercing the
resin blisters on young trees). Douglas Fir needles are high in Vitamin C
and you can drink them as a tea to prevent scurvy or to boost the
immune system. The wood is quite strong for an evergreen tree, and makes for a stout shelter, can be used for a bow saw stave, or for making arrows.
Douglas Fir produces the most flammable resin of all the evergreen trees
in North America, so it produces the most potent and wonderfully
fragrant pitchwood for firemaking, though it can be difficult to find.
As firewood, Douglas Fir burns as hot as Elm due to its flammable
resins, but it pops and sparks a lot while it burns, so use caution if
sleeping close to a fire when burning it. Douglas Firs have long been
popular to use as Christmas trees.

Identification

Douglas Fir trees look very similar to Spruce trees, but there are a
couple of easy ways to tell them apart while in the field. The easiest
way is look at their cones. Douglas Fir cones are small and very
distinctive, and this is most easily seen by the little "streamers" that
stick out of them:

(click to enlarge)

Douglas Firs usually litter the ground with their cones, so even if you
don't see them on the boughs, a quick check around the base of the tree
usually gives a positive identification.

The second way is to
feel the needles with your hand. Fir tree needles are soft and do not
hurt or poke at your skin, unlike Spruce trees, which have stiff and
pointy needles that might hurt when you grab them.

A third method of identification is by the distinctive citrus odor that Douglas Firs give off when freshly cut..

PHOTOS

Saplings/Young Trees

Bark on a young tree:

Closeup of the young bark's resin blisters, which, if pierced, are a good source for an anti-bacterial wound topping:

Young Adult Trees

Mature Trees

Finding Pitchwood in Douglas Firs

Douglas Fir produces the highest quality pitchwood for fire-starting, but it is rather difficult to find, since it only forms inside of dead logs, dead roots or sometimes at the base of dead branches. Occasionally, it can be found in stump form, similar to how pitchwood forms in dead Yellow Pine stumps, but having examined hundreds of dead Douglas Fir stumps, I've only found one that contained an appreciable amount of quality pitchwood.

Douglas Fir pitchwood is most often found while cutting open a dead log to process it for firewood:

Red variety (Thanks to Old Philosopher at Bushcraft USA for taking these two photos. This Douglas Fir pitchwood was harvested in the Montana Rockies)

(click to enlarge)

In dead roots:

About the author

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft, and the author ofEdible & Medicinal Survival Plants of the Rocky Mountains Pocket Guides. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Mora's
"Black Carbon" Bushcraft Knife follows the summer release of their new
line of "heavy duty" knives, including the popular "Robust Knife". The
Black Carbon is essentially aMora Bushcraft Forceknife,
but with a thicker 1/8" thick carbon steel blade, a squared-off spine
(for striking firesteels and scraping tinder), and a blackTungsten DLC Coatingfor rust resistance.

When
I heard that Mora was releasing the Black Carbon, I was excited to say
the least, since it finally has the features I've been longing for. I'd
like to say a special thanks to Ben's Backwoods for getting this knife
out to us so quickly!

When
I first picked up the Black Carbon, I could feel the extra heft
compared to any Mora I've used in the past. On a digital scale, the
Black Carbon weighs a half an ounce more than the stainless Bushcraft Survival and
Force knives, coming in at 4.3 ounces (without the sheath), compared to
3.7 ounces for the Bushcraft Survival.

One surprise was that the Black Carbon has a longer blade than the aforementioned knives, coming in
at 4.35" vs 4.25" for the Force and Bushcraft Survival knives.

The Black Carbon comes with a standard Mora Bushcraft sheath, which has a
removable belt loop that also swivels in place. Although it's not
fancy, it is functional, tough yet lightweight, and does a good job of
holding the knife safely and securely.

(click to enlarge)

The Black Carbon also fits directly into the Mora Bushcraft Survival Sheath:

FIELD REVIEW

Much has already been written about the
Bushcraft Force knife, which the Black Carbon is based on, so I wanted
to focus on the four things that I thought were most important: 1) Does
the Black Carbon baton any better than the Force knife? 2) How will the
DLC Coating hold up under this batoning? 3) Now that the blade is
thicker, will it still perform fine carving tasks as well as the thinner
blades? 4) How well does the squared-off spine work when striking a
firesteel?

Batoning a small Aspen log

For the baton test, I found a small, dead
Aspen tree that was lying on the ground around my base camp and sawed
off a section with my trusty Bahco Laplander saw:

(click to enlarge)

Using a baton made from a pitch-laden pine branch, the log was then batoned into smaller pieces for the feather-stick and firesteel test:

(click to enlarge)

Success!

I felt that the Black Carbon's thicker, longer blade made
batoning slightly easier than other Moras I've used in the past.

Carving a Featherstick

The Black Carbon performed excellently in the
featherstick test. It doesn't carve with the absolute perfection of a
thin-bladed Mora Clipper, but this slight deficiency is really only
noticeable when you do a side-by side comparison of the two.

(click to enlarge)

Firesteel test

The
squared off spine on the Black Carbon was a joy to use when striking a firesteel, and easily
ignited the Aspen wood featherstick from the previous test with just a
few strikes:

(click to enlarge)

DLC Coating- How did it hold up?

I
was only able to baton one log and carve a few feathersticks before
posting this review, but the DLC Coating on this knife looks very
promising. Here's how the knife looked after the tests:

With it's thicker, slightly longer blade, the Black Carbon just might be
the ticket for those who love Mora knives, but are worried about using a
thinner version for heavy duty wilderness tasks. No, it's not a 1/4
thick "sharpened prybar," but I highly doubt anyone would break one
unless they were outright abusing it.

Another advantage of the high carbon steel construction of the Black Carbon is the ability to ignite char-tinder by striking its spine against Flint or Quartz to produce sparks. Here's a great video on how to do this by IA Woodsman.

One slight negative is that there is a small degredation in cutting performance compared to
thinner Moras like the Clippers, but it's barely noticeable unless you
do a side by side comparison of the two. The Black Carbon is still an excellent wood carving tool compared to most knives.

I was impressed with the DLC coating. Even though I didn't have as
much field time with the Black Carbon as I normally do with other knife
reviews, it appeared to hold up as well or better than, the coatings on
other knives I've used over the years. After I spend more time in the
field with the Black Carbon, I'll post an update on how it holds
up under long term field use.

This knife looks to be an excellent all-around bush knife, and just as
the FireKnife was a hit for Mora, I predict the same for the Black
Carbon.

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)